During the early 1900's many farmers moved west in hopes of finding land to farm and to raise a family. Many farmers found this land in the mid west. Many farmers thought that the land was perfect and thought that it would last forever. The farmer didn't realize what they had done until it was almost too late. Which brings up the point if one is not careful they can destroy something very precious that is irreplaceable.
The Dust Bowl was located in the mid west, but mostly in the southern plains. In 1931 many farmers believed that farming was best in the southern plains. Plains farmers were most prosperous because of the large amounts of land they could farm and grow crops. Many of the farmers didn't the occasional dust storm and little water supply. They plowed what they called "virgin sod" which is soil that had not been plowed by any other person. When looking at farmers at work they were described as "great armored bugs moving across the plains," this referred to the tractors that were plowing the plains. But as time passed the soil became light and dry. The sand storms grew taller and thicker as time progressed. Eventually the rains stopped in the summer of 1931. The wheat that farmers had been growing died. With more sand in the air it became harder to breathe, the Red Cross began to give out dust masks. Many people used bits of cloth to cover their faces and mouths. With the heat of the sun, thick air and the dust protection that farmers had to use the farmers became dazed as they worked. An inch of soil that took nature 1000 years to lay down it only took a minute to blow it all away. The Dust Bowl, which was about 100 million acres, was becoming a barren wasteland. Farmers were now losing money because they had to take out loans to pay for farm equipment and to feed their family. The drought persisted for three long years. The only way to retrieve water was to use windmills as water pumps to pump water up from under ground streams.